Rules about Kissing

            Sungmin grabbed his fiancée and pulled her back into his arms, wrapping her up tight in them, and glared at his hyung.  “That was out of line!”

            “I was just giving her my usual greeting,” Heechul claimed.  “I didn’t want her to feel as if I was snubbing her.”

            At this, Kyuhyun set down his laptop and walked over to Saeun and pat her back.  Then he leaned closer to her ear and asked, “Which one of us kisses better?  Him or me?”

            “What?” Sungmin asked, nearly shouting.

            “I had a legitimate reason to kiss her.  We were acting,” Kyuhyun defended himself.  “Although I don’t know if I want to be judged on my kisses based on a fake one.  Perhaps I should kiss you for real before I let you be the judge.”

            “NO ONE ELSE IS KISSING MY FIANCEE TODAY!”

            “Damn,” cursed Hyukjae.  “Can you come back tomorrow?”

            “Tomorrow is perfect,” Donghae said.  “Sungmin has a schedule tomorrow.”

            “Everyone is going to behave now,” Leeteuk said.  “Henry, maybe you should get her some of your punch, after all.  Get me some, too.”

            Henry jumped up and ran to the kitchen before Leeteuk could come to his senses. 

            “We’re sorry if we’re a little overzealous to meet you, Saeun-ssi,” Leeteuk sincerely apologized. “It’s just that no other member has married yet and we’re all so excited for Sungmin, we can barely contain our feelings.  We know that you two are going to be very happy together and we’re dying to meet his future wife, since you’ll become a part of our family as well now.” 

            “I’m fine, Leeteuk-ssi.  It’s just a little overwhelming to meet so many people at once,” she said.

            “Come with me,” Kyuhyun said, holding out his hand to her.  “I was just kidding about kissing you to piss off Minnie anyway.  You know I hate kissing girls.”

            “So do I,” Heechul said, smirking.

            “You don’t act like it,” Sungmin said, shoving him hard.

            Kangin stepped in between Sungmin and Heechul as Kyuhyun drug Saeun away.

            “I’ll take you on a tour of the dorm,” Kyuhyun said, taking her first to the living room.  “This is mostly decorated by Hyukjae, since the rest of us don’t really care how it looks, and those two huge armoires in the back of the room contain a small portion of his clothes.”

            Saeun laughed at this and continued to follow Kyuhyun around, although he had a grip on her hand, so it was hard not to.  Normally, he was rather shy around women, but he’d worked with Saeun before and—as he’d claimed—had even kissed her on stage.  So he felt a little closer to her than to most. 

            As they headed towards the kitchen, Henry handed her a cup and she thanked him for the drink. 

            “This is the kitchen and you see that Hyukjae and Donghae are hard at work washing the dishes and getting themselves drenched in the process somehow,” he pointed out.  “This is Sungmin and Ryeowook’s special bonding room and they work their miracles in here.  You should pretend to be a terrible cook, even if you’re not, because Sungmin is excellent and there will never be a need for you to make anything if you don’t want to.  Just burn everything the first few times you make it and he’ll never let you in the kitchen again.  Promise.  It worked for me.”

            Sungmin slapped him on the back of the head, rejoining them. 

            “Saeun likes to cook,” Sungmin informed him.

            “Quit hitting me on the head.  I didn’t kiss your fiancée,” Kyuhyun pointed out.

            “No, but you admitted to purposely cooking bad so you don’t have to,” Sungmin threw back at him.

            “Thankfully, I’m safe because Ryeowook loves to cook,” Kyuhyun informed Saeun.

            “Love is a strong word, Kyu,” Ryeowook said, entering the kitchen and leaning against the counter, gazing at him.

            “Yes, it is,” Kyuhyun admitted, his attention suddenly stolen by his little lover.

            “Perhaps not the word I’d use for cooking,” Ryeowook said.

            “Fine…I’m safe because Ryeowook loves to cook for me,” Kyuhyun amended.  “Satisfied?”

            “We’ll get to that later,” Ryeowook only said, before turning his attention to his helpers and frowning.  “I think I’d like to start cutting pieces of cake, but I’m afraid they’re going to get all wet if I don’t kick you two out.  I’ll finish up the few dishes that remain myself.  You two go change your shirts before we have dessert.”

            Sungmin shook his head at them.  “They clearly got them wet on purpose so my beloved fiancée could see their defined muscles through their wet shirts.”

            “I had no idea that Leeteuk was going to volunteer us to clean up afterwards.  If I did, I wouldn’t have worn this flimsy white t-shirt,” Hyukjae said, running his hand down the see-through shirt that was sticking tight to his skin.

            “Wait!” Sungmin said, squinting his eyes as he looked closer at the shirt.  “You weren’t wearing that shirt at dinner!”

            Kyuhyun started laughing at Sungmin’s belated observation.

            “You know, they’ll eventually just air dry,” Donghae said.

            “No,” Ryeowook said, shaking his head.  “If you don’t change and put on something more appropriate, you don’t get any cake,” he threatened.

            “So be it,” Donghae said, shrugging as he looked at Hyukjae.

            Hyukjae sighed and then they both removed their shirts at the same time. 

            “Jesus!  Come on!” Sungmin shouted.

            “What’s going on in there?” Leeteuk hollered from the living room.

            Henry ran into the kitchen to check out what was going on.  “EunHae took their shirts off again.”

            “I told you not to,” Leeteuk reminded them.

            Donghae and Hyukjae headed out of the kitchen to change.  “Ryeowook said he wouldn’t let us have any cake unless we took our shirts off,” Donghae claimed.

            At this point, Saeun took a sip of her drink and nearly choked when she realized that it was heavily spiked.  Then she decided, what the hell, and drank some more of it.  This night was already a bit off kilter anyway.  A little alcohol wasn’t going to hurt it any.

            “They’ve been wanting to show you their bare chests since they knew you were coming,” Ryeowook admitted.

            “It will be a miracle if you don’t see someone’s before you leave,” Kyuhyun informed her.  “And again, that won’t be mine.  That’s exclusively Ryeowook’s to view.  Ah, speaking which, do you want to see our bedroom?  It’s actually pretty clean.”

            “You call having a wine bottle on every available surface clean?” Ryeowook questioned.

            “They aren’t dusty,” Kyuhyun countered.

            “But the room is cluttered,” Ryeowook pointed out, heading to the sink to finish the dishes. 

            “It is not, the way the bottles are lined up is very stylish.”

            “This coming from the man with no fashion sense,” Ryeowook said.

            Kyuhyun released Saeun’s hand and walked over to Ryeowook.  “But I—”

            “Quit monopolizing Saeun and let Sungmin show her around instead,” Ryeowook softly whispered up to his lover. 

            Kyuhyun glanced back at their guest and Sungmin, who were already trying to make a hasty exit, and did not move to follow them.  “Were you jealous that I was paying too much attention to Saeun?”

            “No,” Ryeowook honestly said.  “If I had to be worried about that, we wouldn’t be together.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to myself either, just as Sungmin clearly wants a moment alone with his fiancée.”

            “You only need to ask,” Kyuhyun said, bending down to capture Ryeowook’s lips. 

            Sungmin drug Saeun into his room and quickly shut and locked the door behind him.  “This is my room,” he informed her.  Saeun walked into the room and began to look around at the framed pictures on the walls and the dresser tops.  Some were of her, but many of them were from trips with the members.  He’d known them so much longer, after all. 

            “So, I never bothered asking, but I’m guessing you room alone.  I mean, I knew that Kyuhyun roomed with Ryeowook,” she said.

            “I kind of caught wind of that…that you already knew he was gay.  How did you find out about that?” Sungmin questioned.  “That’s not something he just tells anyone, you know.”

            “Well, I was kind of nervous about kissing him on stage.  Okay, well…I was really nervous.  You and I were already dating when he was doing a short stint for The Three Musketeers and I felt weird about kissing your friend.  Anyway, he could tell that I was a nervous wreck about it and to elevate my anxiety, he informed me that he was gay, so it didn’t matter anyway.  I don’t know if he would have been so forthcoming had you and I not been together, but that’s how he decided to put me at ease about kissing him when I knew you two were friends.”

            “Saeun,” Sungmin said.

            “Hmmm?” she responded, turning to face him.

            Sungmin cupped her face and then leaned in to kiss her.  “I love you,” he told her, when he finally pulled back. 

            “I love you, too.”

            “Thank you for making me so happy.”

            Saeun smiled sweetly and then continued to look around the room.  He let her wander around, although his eyes only stayed on her, and he sat down on the bed and watched until she finally finished snooping around and turned back to him. 

            “Are you going to let me spend the night?” she asked, setting her drink down on the nightstand and crawling onto the bed.

            Sungmin bit his lip.  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

            “I think I should be allowed to spend one night at the dorms before you move out,” she informed him.

            “We have a rule about having women over here,” he told her.

            “You still let Heechul in,” she teased, making her way over to him.

            “You’re going to be thrown out the window if he heard that,” Sungmin laughed, glancing at the door to double check that it was locked.

            Saeun pushed him down onto his back and then crawled over him, her hands on either side of his head and her hair falling down onto his face.  “Rules were meant to be broken.”

            “Fine,” he said, laughing.  “You can stay.  Just don’t mention it to the members.  Kyuhyun and Ryeowook won’t care, they’re too absorbed in their own relationship, and if we’re lucky maybe Hyuk will head to Donghae’s or his parent’s for the night.  If not, that’s the only other person you’ll have to contend with.  But he’ll probably walk around in his boxers because he doesn’t get to impress enough women by stripping onstage.”

            “I’ll survive,” she said, lowering herself down until she was lying on top of him and then she pressed her lips against his.  Just as Sungmin was beginning to forget that there was an apartment full of s beyond the locked door, there was a loud rap at the door and they broke their lips away from each other.

            “Heechul hyung says to quit making out and come eat some dessert,” Henry hollered from the other side of the door.

            “Okay, thanks,” Sungmin yelled back, quickly sitting up.

            “They’re entertaining,” she said, getting up off the bed.

            “Well, we are entertainers.  That’s what we do and we do it well,” he said, getting up and heading for the door. 

            Saeun grabbed her drink off the nightstand and followed him. 

            “Did they spike your drink?  I could taste liquor when we kissed,” he pointed out.

            “Clearly,” she responded.

            “es,” he cursed under his breath.  “It’s a good thing you love me.”

            “I think I could use this to my advantage later.  Just follow my lead, will you?” she asked.

            “Anything for you,” he said, opening the door for her and letting her out. 

            They ate dessert with the others and then a few of them had to excuse themselves early because they had schedules bright and early in the morning.  Siwon, Zhou Mi, and Jonghoon left and then eventually Leeteuk decided to call it a night as well, but he felt conflicted about leaving the members with Saeun unattended and asked Kangin to make sure things didn’t get too out of hand. 

            At this point, Saeun was on her third glass of punch and was feeling a little tipsy, but this wasn’t her first time having a drink.  She was an actress, after all, they tended to party after performances.  But the singers seemed to have a different view of her.  Perhaps it was because she had such an innocent look about her, not unlike her betrothed.  So she decided to play up the effects of the spiked punch a little more, now that the more civilized members had abandoned them, and began to act a little drunk.

            “Sushmin-ah,” she said to her fiancé, trying to set her cup down on the table and nearly missing several times before Sungmin finally just grabbed it from her, playing along.

            “Yes, dearest?”

            “I don feel so…” she began, shaking her head.

            “What’s the matter?  Are you sick?”

            She covered with her hand.

            “I sink I’m drunk,” she told him.

            “Drunk?” he said, grabbing the cup she’d been drinking from and sniffing it.  Then he tasted it.  “You know what?  I think there is liquor in here.”

            “Ish that going to…hurt the baby?”

            Saeun had never seen a worse reaction from a group of men in her life.  Henry turned deathly pale.  Kangin jumped to his feet and offered to get the car ready in case they needed to go to the hospital.  Heechul was swearing up a storm and started yelling at Henry for feeding Saeun liquor without telling her.  Donghae and Hyukjae were as still as statues, staring at Saeun in utter disbelief. 

            Ryeowook, puzzled, turned to Sungmin.  “You swore to me you weren’t getting married because you knocked her up.”

            “I’m not, but we just found out the other day.  I didn’t want to overload you with too much at once,” Sungmin said, trying not to look his best friend in the eye, because the game would be up if he did. 

            Meanwhile, Kyuhyun was sitting next to Ryeowook, watching the drama unfold around him.  In particular, he watched Saeun.  He let the hysterics continue only a minute longer and finally he pointed at her and said, “You know, you almost had me there.”

            Saeun, who’d been kneeling on the floor at this point, doubled over, quickly sat up and smiled at Kyuhyun.  “What gave me away?”

            “I’ve seen you drink way more than that at wrap parties, for one,” he began, pointing out the most obvious while everyone else in the room was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.  “Secondly, you’ve had enough liquor to know when a drink is spiked.  Thirdly, your acting on the gaging part was a little over-the-top.  Don’t you think?” he said, turning to look at Ryeowook, who was pale himself from watching Saeun gag. 

            “You were faking?” Heechul asked, outraged.

            “Are you serious?” Kangin asked, starting to laugh.

            “You’re not pregnant?” Ryeowook asked.

            Saeun shook her head. 

             “Oh my God,” Henry said, holding is head in his hands.  “I thought I was going to hell for causing a miscarriage or something.”

            “You should not be sneaking women liquor without warning them,” Sungmin told him, pointing his finger at the maknae.

            “Leeteuk told me to.”

            “I’ll be talking to him about that too,” Sungmin claimed, sitting back down on the couch.

            Donghae rubbed his hand over his face.  “That was rotten.”

            “We totally deserved that,” Kangin said, still chuckling.  “I think I’m going to call it a night now.  The rest of you can go home if you don’t live here.  Come give me a hug, girl.”

            Saeun stood up and walked over to Kangin. 

            “Welcome to the family.”

            “Thank you,” she said, hugging him good-bye.

            The rest of the crew disappeared along with Kangin, except for Donghae and Hyukjae, who still appeared frozen on the couch, staring at them. 

            “You two just going to sit there all night?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “I feel violated,” Donghae informed them.

            “I got kissed, drank spiked punch, and two men stripped in front of me tonight.  You feel violated?” she asked.

            “Can you violate me some more?” Hyukjae asked.

            “You two leave,” Sungmin ordered.

            “I live here,” Hyukjae said, objecting.

            “But she’s spending the night and you’re going to creep her out, so you go with Donghae,” he ordered.

            The two ended up leaving and it was just them and the maknaes, who were picking up after everyone and putting things away. 

            “Do you want help?” Sungmin asked.  “Since it was my party?”

            “No,” Ryeowook said.  “You have company over, so we’ll clean up this time.”

            Sungmin nodded and walked her down to his bedroom.  “I think I ought to warn you though, I’m not going to have with you in the dorm.”

            “You’re not?” she asked.

            “No,” he insisted.  “I feel that would just betray the spirit of what the dorms are all about.  It’s this horrid temple of chastity and no one gets to have any while they live within these walls,” he told her, almost complaining about it.

            “What about Kyuhyun and Ryeowook?”

            “Unless you’re gay,” Sungmin said.  “We don’t normally add in that clause when we talk about it because it’s implied.  If you’re gay, it’s all good.  Basically, this place is like living in a prison.”

            Saeun laughed at this and watched as Sungmin tracked her down some pajamas to wear, digging through drawers to find a t-shirt and some shorts that wouldn’t dwarf her, and then he handed them off to her.  She began to change in front of him and he shyly looked away and began to change into pajamas himself.  When he was done, he peeked over his shoulder at her.  Saeun was folding up her clothes and setting them on his chair.  She handed him the shorts he’d given her.

            “They’re too loose,” she informed him, “but this shirt seems long enough.”

            Sungmin nodded and put the shorts back in the drawer.  Then he turned off the light and got into bed.  She was already under the covers, fluffing up her pillow.  Sungmin laid down on his back and willed himself not to move too much, to still the beating of his heart, but he couldn’t stop himself from turning his head to watch her as she settled in beside him.  Saeun lay down on her side, facing him, and smiled. 

            “Come closer,” he beckoned.

            “I thought you didn’t want me to?” she asked, teasing him.

            “Come here,” he pleaded.

            Saeun cuddled up next to her fiancé, resting her head on his shoulder and rubbing her hand up and down his chest. 

            “Why do you love me more than any of them?” he wondered.

            “Probably because you’re the most like me,” she explained.  “Is there any one of them that would suit me better?”

            “No.  And I wouldn’t let them have you, even if they did, brothers or not!” 

            “Be honest with me though…were they trying to scare me off tonight?” she asked.

            “No,” he replied, grimacing.  “Actually, I think in some warped, distorted way they were trying to impress you.  Are you more worried now?”

            “Actually, that kind of makes sense…in a warped, distorted way.  I think they’ll calm down once they get to know me better,” she said, patting his chest.

            “I don’t know if I want them to get to know you better.  You’ve kissed two of them and two others have stripped in front of you,” he pointed out.  “Just out of curiosity…what was going through your head when Heechul was kissing you?”

            “Well, at first I was kind of shocked since you heavily implied that he was gay,” she pointed out.

            “And then what?”

            “And then I realized, he’s not a bad kisser!  Are you sure he’s gay?”

            “Biual,” Sungmin said, grimacing.

            “Well, he’s certainly a diva in his own right, but when he wants to impress a woman, he certainly knows how,” she admitted, waving her hand in front of her face.  “I mean, my goodness…”

            “Suddenly changed my mind,” Sungmin said, rolling Saeun onto her back and kissing her hard.